27-10-2004 5:00 pm The International Advisory Board for the Reform of the Science, Technology and Innovation System of Nigeria, established at the request of the government of Nigeria by UNESCO with the participation of several intergovernmental agencies, will be launched at UNESCO Headquarters on October 27 and 28.

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, will launch the Board in the presence of Nigeria’s Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Turner T. Isoun (10 a.m. – 11 a.m., Room IX). Close to 60 participants will attend the meeting.

The Advisory Board – to be presided over by Jo Ritzen, President of the University of Maastricht, former Science Minister of the Government of the Netherlands, and former Vice-President of the World Bank – is to prepare the way for Nigeria to call a donors’ conference for a multi-year plan of action on science, technology and innovation. US$ 1 million, equally contributed by the Government of Nigeria and UNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust, has been provided for this preparatory work.

A consortium of agencies and organizations is represented on the International Advisory Board, among them: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO); World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); African Union Commission; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); International Association of Universities(IAU); and the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO).